WTF? White Hispanic. Why is the US news media so fucking racist?

[Miss Shelby]

Trayvon Martin killing raises loaded racial terms - CNN.com

[Kael]

Good thread title, but you really should have added a little something in the OP. Y'know, something that says you really care about the issue and just want the truth, or justice, or something.

[Miss Shelby]

But I don't. I just want to bitch.

[Miss Shelby]

Or I should say, I am more concered that the CJS (criminal justice system)-- should determine the guilt or innocence of Zimmerman, and not the former Communication majors employed at major news networks who graduated with 2.0 gpa's.

[ChuckF]

Could you maybe edit the OP to include something about reverse racism? Because, you know, worries.

[Miss Shelby]

I would ask the admin to edit the OP why is the US media so reversed racist? If I am able to do it , I don't know how.

[ChuckF]

I will start a thread in MCR.

[Angakuk]

I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Navarrette. I too find the use of the term "white Hispanic" deeply troubling. Why not call him what he really is, an asshole.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Angakuk

I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Navarrette. I too find the use of the term "white Hispanic" deeply troubling. Why not call him what he really is, an asshole.

Navarette is a p. cool guy. He was in both Nirvana and The Food Fighters, you know.

[California Tanker]

Frankly, I find the entire USian desire to classify people down to the n'th degree to be ridiculous. Compare a European census form with one from the US, I'll wager you'll find the former to be far shorter.

[lisarea]

It is useful for statistical and planning purposes to categorize various populations with varying degrees of granularity, sometimes overlapping categories.

So to take the 'white Hispanic' example, if everyone classified as 'white' were put in a single, monolithic category, we would miss social and economic trends in the Hispanic subgroup, and thus miss opportunities to develop appropriate services and metrics to better serve those specific communities.

TAXONOMY.

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by California Tanker

Compare a European census form with one from the US, I'll wager you'll find the former to be far shorter.

Shorter maybe, but not much, I think ...

UK Ethnicity Question

What is your ethnic group?
Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background

White
1. English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British
2. Irish
3. Gypsy or Irish Traveller
4. Any other White background, please describe

Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups
5. White and Black Caribbean
6. White and Black African
7. White and Asian
8. Any other Mixed / Multiple ethnic background, please describe

Asian / Asian British
9. Indian
10. Pakistani
11. Bangladeshi
12. Chinese
13. Any other Asian background, please describe

Black / African / Caribbean / Black British
14. African
15. Caribbean
16. Any other Black / African / Caribbean background, please describe

Other ethnic group
17. Arab
18. Any other ethnic group, please describe

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-meth...hnic-group.pdf

Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by California Tanker

Frankly, I find the entire USian desire to classify people down to the n'th degree to be ridiculous. Compare a European census form with one from the US, I'll wager you'll find the former to be far shorter.

How much would you like to wager?

[California Tanker]

The last one I filled out didn't ask for race or skin colour at all, actually, though I will admit I should have specified my statement to be as relates to skin colour. France also appears to have a law preventing any race questions in their census. Perhaps one of our Dutch posters can verify, but the Netherlands Office of Statistics seems to produce a document equivalent to that of Ireland, which asks only for nationality of origin, not race. It seems Switzerland doesn't ask about ethnicity at all either.

The UK survey posted by Mick appears to cover two questions at once: That of race and of ethnic group. (And I note that 'White-Hispanic' or 'White-Mediterranean' doesn't seem to be an option should Mr Zimmerman be living in the UK)

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by California Tanker

The last one I filled out didn't ask for race or skin colour at all, actually, though I will admit I should have specified my statement to be as relates to skin colour.

Darn, I was hoping to earn some easy money by talking about how the US Census 2010 form asks 10 questions. The English Census 2011 questionnaire asks 56 questions. The French form asks 40 questions spread across two forms. The German questionnaires ask 46 questions of the household, with additional questions about buildings and residential living arrangements. The Spanish ask only 22. The Irish ask 35, including ethnicity or cultural background.

France also appears to have a law preventing any race questions in their census. Perhaps one of our Dutch posters can verify, but the Netherlands Office of Statistics seems to produce a document equivalent to that of Ireland, which asks only for nationality of origin, not race. It seems Switzerland doesn't ask about ethnicity at all either.

The UK survey posted by Mick appears to cover two questions at once: That of race and of ethnic group. (And I note that 'White-Hispanic' or 'White-Mediterranean' doesn't seem to be an option should Mr Zimmerman be living in the UK)

Also, did you know that the US Census form doesn't even have, uh, Gypsy or Irish traveler options? It is almost as if these different places have a different multiplicity of options or specificity according to the diversity of their individual demographics. Wow.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Also, did you know that the US Census form doesn't even have, uh, Gypsy or Irish traveler options? It is almost as if these different places have a different multiplicity of options or specificity according to the diversity of their individual demographics. Wow.

So like back in the early 20th century, there was a series of books about various government agencies, and at least informally sponsored by said government agencies, and they'd be titled, "The Boy with the [government agency]," and they were designed to ingratiate these agencies with the public, sort of like how Laws and Order are supposed to make you not hate lying cops so much.

This is the one about the Census.

Originally Posted by Francis Rolt-Wheeler, from The Boy with the US Census

In hazardous scout duty into these fields of danger the Census Bureau leads. The Census is the sword that shatters secrecy, the key that opens trebly-guarded doors; the Enumerator is vested with the Nation's greatest right—the Right To Know—and on his findings all battle-lines depend. "When through Atlantic and Pacific gateways, Slavic, Italic, and Mongol hordes threaten the persistence of an American America, his is the task to show the absorption of widely diverse peoples, to chronicle the advances of civilization, or point the perils of illiterate and alien-tongue communities. To show how this great Census work is done, to reveal the mysteries its figures half-disclose, to point the paths to heroism in the United States to-day, and to bind closer the kinship between all peoples of the earth who have become "Americans" is the aim and purpose of

THE AUTHOR.

TAKE FROM THIS WHAT YOU WILL.

Because I don't really have a point. I just wanted to show it to you guys and stuff.

[Vivisectus]

As far as I am aware, in Not-Holland-But-The-Netherlands they ask for:

full name
birth place
birth date
death date (if death occurred within that particular 10-year period)
marital status
marriage date (if marriage occurred within that particular 10-year period)
relationship to head of household
religion
sometimes: tax class
date of registration
date of moving to that address (if within that particular 10-year period)
place or address from where he came
date of moving from that address (if within that particular 10-year period)
place or address to where he moved
notes

As far as we are concerned you can be a polka-dotted space alien from planet Anus, as long as we can find you when it is time to pay your taxes.

I am also amused by the Irish option "Gypsy / Travelling community". The Roma are about as different from the Travellers as, well, two pretty different things. It is a bit like offering the option "Sami/Masai" because both peoples like cattle. But then again, it is the mobile lifestyle they are interested in, not what shape their parents were, which is a cheerful thought.